Evening and Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
December 25
Morning
"Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."—Isaiah 7:14.
Let us to-day go down to
Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see
Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in
Him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our
brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us
notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It was a
thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive
and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, "The seed of the
woman," not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the
way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she,
and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise.
Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to His human
nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose
innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be
formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note His humble parentage.
His mother has been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess,
or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her
veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most
sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to
whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the
new-born King!
Immanuel, God with us in our nature,
in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with
us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second
Advent splendour.
Evening
"And it
was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and
sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings
according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have
sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."—Job 1:5.
What the patriarch did
early in the morning, after the family festivities, it will be well for the
believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of
household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget
our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that
our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too
frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and
sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should
be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for
our poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the
house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned to-day?
Have you been forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in
idle words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice.
The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the
guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and
carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day—to
wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice
continually; if it be so good to-night, it is good every
night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them
sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near
yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead
works.
Gladly I close this festive
day, Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn; My slips and
faults are washed away, The Lamb has all my trespass borne.